10805 I find myself drawn to this film again and again. Its theme seems timeless, yet I can't help but wonder if indeed times have not changed for girls like Sara. Certainly, I have met many girls like her, and it would seem that her "type" is not as reviled or misunderstood as it once was. One can't help but feel frustrated, though, as she proceeds to demolish her tenuous relationships at the party. Come ON Sara, lighten up! (Haven't we all witnessed such train wrecks, unfortunately?) I'd love to have heard some of the actual discussions that followed the screening of this film to its intended audience. Were Sara's tormentors viewed as dimly then as we view them now? I think the young actress is wonderful; does anyone know her name? Does anyone else get just a little creeped out during the father/daughter scene in the kitchen? ("Okay, punkin.") Nothing overtly strange about it; there's some kind of charge in the air, though, that I attribute to the sheer intensity of the girl's performance. A truly fascinating little gem. Not easy to classify Rev Mootfowl 2004-03-25 13:28:36 2004-03-25 13:01:21 5 10783 Here we meet yet another problematic girl of the 1950’s. Like the chaotic Barbara in “Habit Patterns” and promiscuous Ginnie in “Are You Popular?” Sara, the main character in “The Snob,” is a girl who just can’t fit in. The film opens with a shot of Sara through her bedroom window as she’s grimly doing her algebra homework and trying to ignore the loud party that’s going on at her classmate Ron’s house next door. She angrily gets up and closes the window. This sense Sara of being behind glass is reminiscent of Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar” and Sara is a Plath-like character—sensitive and intelligent. Both Sara and Ron’s mothers are troubled by Sara’s withdrawn behavior. Ron’s mom gets Ron to invite Sara to his next party by reminding him how she came over to read to him when he had rheumatic fever (in those pre-antibiotic days). Underneath her prickly exterior, Sara’s a caring person. But at high school, she’s snubbed and envied by the girls. “Her Highness has a new sweater!” one girl remarks to another, “You have to hand it to Sara, she’s certainly got good taste!” the other girl replies. “Hear nobody, see nobody, talk to nobody, that’s Sara! Snob!” Can we blame Sara for tuning out these snide girls? Later, Sara’s dad tries to help in a heart-to-heart talk in the kitchen while Sara obsessively dries the dishes—“All those people you don’t like, aren’t they happier than you are?” Pretty, intelligent, and potentially popular, Sara’s willing to be unpopular if it means being true to herself. Sara reluctantly goes to Ron’s next party and it’s a disaster. She ends up in the back yard crying as the kids look on behind the plate glass windows (more glass symbolism). “The snob,” an announcer intones, “hurting everyone, herself, her parents, her friends, other people. What makes Sara act the way she does?—What do you think?” A large question mark appears on the screen, even though the answer seems obvious—Sara needs to get away from her brainless classmates and her well-meaning but clueless parents. Hopefully, her good grades will get her into a college where she’ll be accepted and appreciated for who she is. “She thinks she’s better than everybody else!” (and maybe she’s right) Marysz 2004-06-20 20:32:52 2004-03-24 20:35:22 4 20735 Perhaps this delightful film should be re-named *Young Susan Sontag*. Future Cultural Critic? DrAwkward 2004-09-11 21:03:57 2004-09-11 21:03:57 5 Pretty amazing film featuring realistic teenagers, real looking sets, and realistic dialogue and situations. Sarah is a snob.. or is she? She doesnt have many friends, seems to ignore social functions and sticks her nose out to everyone. Sarah's mom sets her up with the nice boy who has parties at his place every weekend, but even that collapses when she makes a scene after refusing to dance. What is triggering all of this? We don't get an answer, which hinders the film a bit, as the film asks us if there was a way she could like people, and I would find such a question difficult to answer without some more background on her character. Nevertheless, this is one of the best Young America films I've seen here, and it's a MUST SEE on this site! Young America Gets It Right! 5 Spuzz 2005-06-07 02:33:41 2005-06-07 02:33:41 Ken Smith considers this one of the greatest "mental hygiene" films ever made. It not only was directed by Herk Harvey, the director of the horror classic "Carnival of Souls," but it also stars the amazingly affecting Vera Stough, the Meryl Streep of Lawrence, KS. Stough (who later went on to act professionally, in Hollywood and elsewhere) stars as Sarah, an academically successful student at her high school who remains quietly contemptuous of her fellow students for not taking life as seriously as she does; the other students scorn her snobbery, while her parents are quietly puzzled by it and attempt gently to get Sarah to change her ways and reach out a bit to her peers. The film has a typical Centron open ending, with Sarah bursting into tears before her schoolmates at a party next door and rushing into the yard when they cannot understand her alienation. This is one of the very few mental hygiene films that is genuinely moving: Harvey and the script combine with Stough's complex performance to make this film memorable in a way few films of this genre genuinely are. As fine as Centron gets 5 flipsy 2005-10-29 14:55:01 2005-10-29 14:55:01 Excellent example of a confused society, clearly showing how it attacks and tries to destroy what it doesn't understand. Film depicts brutal attacks on a young intellectual woman who has been singled out as a nonconformist. Even her own parents conspire against her. She suffers the typical abuses from those who cannot understand her constructive attitude and superior IQ. They, on the other hand, can be seen undertaking activities that serve no productive purpose. They go on to demonstrate an obvious inability to do something as simple as select a sandwich. Does the young woman go on to greatly benefit the ignorant masses, perhaps with major breakthroughs in a scientific endevour? Or does the constant persecution and emotional pummeling drive her to a life of despair, making her goal become diabolical revenge as a major corporate embezzeler who opts for a life of crime and apathy? As this film asks, what do you think? The Abused Intellectual 5 autoguy 2005-11-19 14:47:32 2005-11-19 14:47:32 An excellent 1958 production that is well written, directed, and acted. It makes the viewer look pass the exterior of a teenager who does not relate to her peers, and question her inner feelings and motivations. This guidance film still holds up well. The Snob is thought provoking 5 ERD 2006-08-25 02:02:23 2006-08-25 02:02:23 In the early 90s I dated, or tried to date, an intellectual teen exactly like our little snobbish "Pumkin." We got along reasonably well, but she was totally unemotional. I was the only person in school that cared or noticed her, or went out of his way to spend time with her, and she was, as it turned out, uninterested. She didn't feel the conflict that Sarah does, which was probably added for dramatic effect in the film. Some people can be intelligent, good-looking, hygenic, &c., but just aren't warm to being social. They don't miss or envy it; they simply aren't interested because it isn't their cup of tea. Their libido is completely sublimated. As to the question posed in the film, how ought we to respond to them? Just let them go. My snob from years ago became a professor at the University of Chicago and is probably still a virgin. Memories, memories... Assam 2007-03-15 19:36:21 2007-03-15 19:36:21 4 I found this surprisingly thought-provoking and kind of sad. I think personally though it may have been more useful for the film to suggest a solution to the misunderstandings going on instead of just asking a bunch of questions. I thought that was the whole point of mental hygiene films--instruction--but maybe I'm wrong. not what I thought it'd be elocina 2007-03-23 18:18:37 2007-03-23 18:18:37 5 sarah ended up graduating valedictorian of her class and was accepted to Vassar , where she finally met other people who embraced her being a genius..she ended up working in the Peace Corps and marched with Martin Luther King . Just kidding, but that's why this film is a hoot..Sarah just hasnt found her peer group yet. She will be better off in Greenwich Village. P.S. the moms have major control issues in this movie. sarah ended up marianne333 2007-04-07 17:41:38 2007-04-07 17:41:38 3 I feel that this movie still is very relevant today. It really makes you think... What can Sarah do to make her life easier and happier without compromising herself ? What can others do to help Sarah come out of her shell and feel safe to socialize when she wants to ? There is no bad party here, everybody handled some things poorly. And I think that the parents involved handled this as appropriately as one would wish in this situation, I don't see any control issue at all. In fact, I think it's refreshing to see them involved, worried and able to listen. It also makes you wonder, does Sarah have some traits of a personality disorder ? How has she been burned in the past ? What does she need to let go ? I don't think you should condemn her straight away, nor her peers... I guess this movie helps to look at yourself and others in a different light. And hopefully make better choices on how we handle these relationships. Makes you think youmaycallmegod 2007-05-05 06:22:23 2007-05-05 06:22:23 5 It's her control-freak mother, Ron the resentful idiot, and her peers that talk behind her back (all because - gasp! She READS? Studies? Tries to better herself? Oh no!!) No wonder she's a 'snob'. I wouldn't have anything to do with those people, either! The problem here isn't Sarah.. Wakashimazu 2007-07-18 17:41:05 2007-07-18 17:41:05 1 Mom's, Unhappy In Marriage, Feed Off Daughters From Puberty And Beyond...Starts With Fitting Them With Training Bras To Ogle & Feel Young Breasts That They No Longer Have,... To Inserting First Tampon..To Check Out Daughters Virginity Status....Under The Pretense Of Teaching....It's A Lesbian Yearning....The Husband In All Of This Could Care Less, Since He No Longer Sleeps With Wife Who Put On 175 Pounds Over The Years And Is Now Working In Circus As The Fat Lady....He Goes To Bed With A Magazine....It's A Classic Case In Family Life..Daughter Will Elope With Sword Swallower Who Will Teach Her The Fine Art Of: (You Guessed It!)..Dr. Robert.Phd,R.E.M. And The Rest Is History.... doowopbob 2009-04-21 10:44:23 2009-04-21 10:44:23 3 13 4.23